Call for law change after Woolas case

AN MP has called for an overhaul of election law following the ousting of the former Oldham MP Phil Woolas.

Bassetlaw MP John Mann said there appeared to be a “fundamental weakness in the law”.

In December a specially convened election court stripped Mr Woolas of his Oldham East and Saddleworth parliamentary seat after he was found guilty of lying about an opponent by attacking personal character and conduct. The election was declared void.

Mr Mann said he was not questioning the judgement the court ruled but the process and “its weakness and inflexibility”.

In a Commons debate on election petitions he said: “In essence, the question available to the election court, as demonstrated in the case of Mr Woolas is, ‘yes or no’, ‘guilty or not guilty’.

“If guilty, the sanction must be the ultimate one of striking out. No other option was available in Mr Woolas’ case.

“There was no option of looking to see whether the leaflets influenced the campaign. Therefore, a leaflet that is written but never distributed — a copy could be obtained — could be used to overturn an election result.”

The Labour MP criticised the fact there was no right of appeal for Mr Woolas in the civil case.

“A murderer of the worst kind has a right of appeal, and yet a parliamentarian who has lost his seat because of an election court ruling does not. That anomaly needs to be changed,” he said.

Mr Mann also told the Commons Mr Woolas did not write the offensive leaflets and questioned whether the sanctions should only apply to the candidate if this is the case.

In addition he told MPs unless the law was changed he feared there will be many more cases in the future.

He said: “One of the anomalies in the current law is the question of what is “personal character and conduct”.

“From looking at the publicity and propaganda that there have been, I think it is factually accurate to say that there have been worse in recent elections from all three main parties than in the case of Mr Woolas, and the candidates in question have won.”

Cabinet Office Minister Mark Harper said said legislation was clear candidates should be liable to have their election voided if they or their agents have authorised or consented to illegal practices.

Cabinet Office Minister Mark Harper said legislation was clear candidates should be liable to have their election voided if they or their agents have authorised or consented to illegal practices.

He added: “They should perhaps be careful not to delegate that responsibility to others.

“It is not the case that anybody involved in a campaign can put out pieces of paper — if they are not approved by the candidate or election agent, they cannot lead to what happened in the case of Mr Woolas.”

He said the Government did not believe the law needed to be changed.